abhishreshthaa
Abhijeet S
THE WEEK
THE WEEK was launched in 1982. It is one of the products among the 27 products of the MANORAMA GROUP. It itself is the Brand Extension so has no other Brand Extension.
The sales have now touched the figure of 1.98 lakhs in today’s date. The sales figures are as follows.
YEAR AVERAGE WEEKLY FIGURES (LAKHS)
2000 1.55
2001 1.72
2002 1.92
Early 2003 1.87
Current 2003 1.98
Expected at the end of 2003 Above 2
There was a fall in sales in 2003. This fall was due to the increase in information boom i.e. there are approximately 25 news channels across the nation, which provide the same news, and within a few minutes.
For e.g. when there were bomb blasts all the news channels provided the same news with video clippings in no time. And so there was no point in printing the same report after a week.
People started losing interest in reading, as the same news didn’t seem interesting to them afterwards. Even the economy wasn’t proper and people were busy and tensed with their tensions and hence the sales started declining. To overcome this loss the prices of the other magazines were increased from rs.10 to rs.15.
The logic behind increasing the price even when the sales were declining was that less copies sold at a higher price helped them to cope up with the losses. But THE WEEK preferred to stay at same price.
They felt that keeping price low will benefit their magazine and they were right to a certain extent. And so the scene is changed. Seeing the current situation the sales are expected to rise above 2 lakhs in the end of this year.
Distribution: -
THE WEEK has its distributors all over India. According THE WEEK the subscriptions are more profitable to them as the user is locked for a particular period and is habituated to reading the magazine and likes to continue it further. Out of every 100,99 people subscribe THE WEEK.
Their assured subscriptions are 80,000. They offer 26% discount to the newsstand sellers and don’t give them any return protection whereas they take all the unsold copies. They decide the number of copies to be published depending on statistics of Audit Bureau Circulation, market condition, contents of issue, cover page etc. their present figure is 1,80,000.
Advertisements Expenditure:
The profit margin of the company is 15% per year. According to them there should be at least 17-20 pages of advertisements for a magazine to run on no profit no loss basis. The ratio kept by THE WEEK is 30:70.i.e. 30%advertisements and 70% news.
While taking the advertisements, preference is given to advertisements regarding services like banks, financial institutions, educational institutions, insurance companies etc.
They do not take liquor and friendship advertisements. They take advertisements of 2 competitive companies e.g. NOKIA & SAMSUNG for the same issue as it doesn’t matter for them.
The advertising rates are as follows:
The Advertisements Tariff
PAGE BLACK & WHITE (Rs) COLOUR (Rs)
Full page 1,00,000 1,75,000
Half Page 55,000 96,250
Double-spread (half page) 1,21,000 2,11,750,
Double – Spread 2,20,000 3,85,000
Center-Spread 2,40,000 4,20,000
Single Column 37,000 64,750
Strip/Island 55,000 96,250
Inside Covers 1,92,000
Back Cover 2,22,000
2 Page Cover Gatefold 5,55,000
The Week Classifieds
Col.Cm Rs. 850
One Spot Colour for Border or Emblem 10% Extra
Full Different Colour 20% Extra
Three Colour 40% Extra
Four Colour 75% Extra
Col. Width 4 cm
Minimum Size 3*1
The Week Internet Rates
Rupees US$
Banner 12 cms*3 cms
(340*85 pixels) First Page
(Home page) 15000 350
Inside Page 10000 200
Panel 4 cms*4 cms
(113*113 pixels) First Page
(Home Page) 10000 200
Inside Pages 5000 100
Period of exposure: One Month
Sizes
Full Page: 24 cms* 16.5cms
Half Page (horizontal): 11.5 cms * 16.5 cms
Half Page (vertical): 24 cms* 8 cms
Single Column: 24 cms * 5.3cms
Promotions:
THE WEEK gives advertisements in newspapers like Times of India, Hindustan Times. They also advertise on CNN, CNBC, and NDTV in form of barter. I.e. the channels show their advertisements and THE WEEK prints their advertisements.
Hoardings, posters and banners of the upcoming issue are always put at various places in the country. This helps in capturing new readers as the subject covered in the issue is displayed beforehand.
They also provide sponsorships fro the college events, as THE WEEK is popular in students committee. They have sponsored events of IIT Mumbai, NM, Wilson College etc. They do this in cash or kind or both.
Customer delight services
value Propositions)
They provide free gifts with their subscriptions like Leather Wallet with one-year subscription, Timex Watch with 3 years subscription and digital diary with 5-year subscription.
They also constantly give offers like Scratch and Win, King of Offers, Sporting Offers, Khel Re and so on
Features
23.First Punch: - here a political news is conveyed by funny pictures.
24.Quotable Week: - Statements of some famous personalities are quoted.
25.Letters: - Letters written by the people regarding the previous issues, their opinions are expressed
26.Controversy: - Highlights up the controversy going on
27.Development: - development made in some states i.e. taking people out of their problems.
28.State Scan: - It includes main scan in the state.
29.Cover Story: - this has the detail story of a current topic or situation.
30.Writers world: - Information about new books etc. is given
31.Global Village: - Global News is published. The news published is very rare.
32.Forecast: - The forecast is given by a very famous person i.e. K.K.VAMANAN NAMPOOTHIRI. It is one of the main features, which is provided only by THE WEEK among the GIEM (General interest English magazines).
The introduction of this had also lead to a tremendous increase in the sales. A person generally goes straight to this page and then the rest of news.
We were told that Mr. Damodaran of UTI when once met Mr.Pinakki Chattopadhya marketing manager of THE WEEK told him that he and his wife read first the forecast and they had done a good job by introducing this feature.
Mr. Pinakki Chattopadhya immediately gave him the offer that ‘why don’t you advertise your UTI on just next page'And the same moment the deal was done.
The page was sold for 40 lakh for a year. So we always see the UTI advertisement just opposite the forecast page.
33.Tin-Tin: - this feature attracts children very much.
34.Mumbai Masala
35.Delhi Darbar
36.Travels
37.Rajpath
Markets
Their main markets include metro politant cities in which first is Delhi then Mumbai, Chennai, followed by the rest. In other words North then West then South and East in the end. This magazine is also available all over India.
Cover Page
They keep their cover page same throughout the nation. They had changed it only once in case of Jay Lalitha as the news was more effective in south and not in rest of India. They had the Kashmir’s cover in rest of India
Selection of News
If there is only one news, which can be printed, and there are two news one political and other general, then meeting is held as to which is to be selected i.e. which is more effective to the people. But mostly it is the general news as THE WEEK is a General interest English magazine
To end it can be said that THE WEEK will be soon seen on the top.
THE WEEK was launched in 1982. It is one of the products among the 27 products of the MANORAMA GROUP. It itself is the Brand Extension so has no other Brand Extension.
The sales have now touched the figure of 1.98 lakhs in today’s date. The sales figures are as follows.
YEAR AVERAGE WEEKLY FIGURES (LAKHS)
2000 1.55
2001 1.72
2002 1.92
Early 2003 1.87
Current 2003 1.98
Expected at the end of 2003 Above 2
There was a fall in sales in 2003. This fall was due to the increase in information boom i.e. there are approximately 25 news channels across the nation, which provide the same news, and within a few minutes.
For e.g. when there were bomb blasts all the news channels provided the same news with video clippings in no time. And so there was no point in printing the same report after a week.
People started losing interest in reading, as the same news didn’t seem interesting to them afterwards. Even the economy wasn’t proper and people were busy and tensed with their tensions and hence the sales started declining. To overcome this loss the prices of the other magazines were increased from rs.10 to rs.15.
The logic behind increasing the price even when the sales were declining was that less copies sold at a higher price helped them to cope up with the losses. But THE WEEK preferred to stay at same price.
They felt that keeping price low will benefit their magazine and they were right to a certain extent. And so the scene is changed. Seeing the current situation the sales are expected to rise above 2 lakhs in the end of this year.
Distribution: -
THE WEEK has its distributors all over India. According THE WEEK the subscriptions are more profitable to them as the user is locked for a particular period and is habituated to reading the magazine and likes to continue it further. Out of every 100,99 people subscribe THE WEEK.
Their assured subscriptions are 80,000. They offer 26% discount to the newsstand sellers and don’t give them any return protection whereas they take all the unsold copies. They decide the number of copies to be published depending on statistics of Audit Bureau Circulation, market condition, contents of issue, cover page etc. their present figure is 1,80,000.
Advertisements Expenditure:
The profit margin of the company is 15% per year. According to them there should be at least 17-20 pages of advertisements for a magazine to run on no profit no loss basis. The ratio kept by THE WEEK is 30:70.i.e. 30%advertisements and 70% news.
While taking the advertisements, preference is given to advertisements regarding services like banks, financial institutions, educational institutions, insurance companies etc.
They do not take liquor and friendship advertisements. They take advertisements of 2 competitive companies e.g. NOKIA & SAMSUNG for the same issue as it doesn’t matter for them.
The advertising rates are as follows:
The Advertisements Tariff
PAGE BLACK & WHITE (Rs) COLOUR (Rs)
Full page 1,00,000 1,75,000
Half Page 55,000 96,250
Double-spread (half page) 1,21,000 2,11,750,
Double – Spread 2,20,000 3,85,000
Center-Spread 2,40,000 4,20,000
Single Column 37,000 64,750
Strip/Island 55,000 96,250
Inside Covers 1,92,000
Back Cover 2,22,000
2 Page Cover Gatefold 5,55,000
The Week Classifieds
Col.Cm Rs. 850
One Spot Colour for Border or Emblem 10% Extra
Full Different Colour 20% Extra
Three Colour 40% Extra
Four Colour 75% Extra
Col. Width 4 cm
Minimum Size 3*1
The Week Internet Rates
Rupees US$
Banner 12 cms*3 cms
(340*85 pixels) First Page
(Home page) 15000 350
Inside Page 10000 200
Panel 4 cms*4 cms
(113*113 pixels) First Page
(Home Page) 10000 200
Inside Pages 5000 100
Period of exposure: One Month
Sizes
Full Page: 24 cms* 16.5cms
Half Page (horizontal): 11.5 cms * 16.5 cms
Half Page (vertical): 24 cms* 8 cms
Single Column: 24 cms * 5.3cms
Promotions:
THE WEEK gives advertisements in newspapers like Times of India, Hindustan Times. They also advertise on CNN, CNBC, and NDTV in form of barter. I.e. the channels show their advertisements and THE WEEK prints their advertisements.
Hoardings, posters and banners of the upcoming issue are always put at various places in the country. This helps in capturing new readers as the subject covered in the issue is displayed beforehand.
They also provide sponsorships fro the college events, as THE WEEK is popular in students committee. They have sponsored events of IIT Mumbai, NM, Wilson College etc. They do this in cash or kind or both.
Customer delight services
value Propositions)They provide free gifts with their subscriptions like Leather Wallet with one-year subscription, Timex Watch with 3 years subscription and digital diary with 5-year subscription.
They also constantly give offers like Scratch and Win, King of Offers, Sporting Offers, Khel Re and so on
Features
23.First Punch: - here a political news is conveyed by funny pictures.
24.Quotable Week: - Statements of some famous personalities are quoted.
25.Letters: - Letters written by the people regarding the previous issues, their opinions are expressed
26.Controversy: - Highlights up the controversy going on
27.Development: - development made in some states i.e. taking people out of their problems.
28.State Scan: - It includes main scan in the state.
29.Cover Story: - this has the detail story of a current topic or situation.
30.Writers world: - Information about new books etc. is given
31.Global Village: - Global News is published. The news published is very rare.
32.Forecast: - The forecast is given by a very famous person i.e. K.K.VAMANAN NAMPOOTHIRI. It is one of the main features, which is provided only by THE WEEK among the GIEM (General interest English magazines).
The introduction of this had also lead to a tremendous increase in the sales. A person generally goes straight to this page and then the rest of news.
We were told that Mr. Damodaran of UTI when once met Mr.Pinakki Chattopadhya marketing manager of THE WEEK told him that he and his wife read first the forecast and they had done a good job by introducing this feature.
Mr. Pinakki Chattopadhya immediately gave him the offer that ‘why don’t you advertise your UTI on just next page'And the same moment the deal was done.
The page was sold for 40 lakh for a year. So we always see the UTI advertisement just opposite the forecast page.
33.Tin-Tin: - this feature attracts children very much.
34.Mumbai Masala
35.Delhi Darbar
36.Travels
37.Rajpath
Markets
Their main markets include metro politant cities in which first is Delhi then Mumbai, Chennai, followed by the rest. In other words North then West then South and East in the end. This magazine is also available all over India.
Cover Page
They keep their cover page same throughout the nation. They had changed it only once in case of Jay Lalitha as the news was more effective in south and not in rest of India. They had the Kashmir’s cover in rest of India
Selection of News
If there is only one news, which can be printed, and there are two news one political and other general, then meeting is held as to which is to be selected i.e. which is more effective to the people. But mostly it is the general news as THE WEEK is a General interest English magazine
To end it can be said that THE WEEK will be soon seen on the top.